Day 183: Cincinnati, Day 1 (And A Special Guest!)

The RV park was quiet in the morning--it was a Sunday, so perhaps in this neck of the woods, folks had decided to go to church? We saw a couple of kids dressed in what looked like their Sunday's finest, so it could very well have been the case. Or maybe folks were nursing a hangover or wanted to sleep in after last night's festivities. The pool, which was filled to the brim with people the day before when we arrived, was empty. Unfortunately, while we were packing up, Michael reached into the back of the RV to grab Sheila's dog trailer, and hurt his back. He was in a lot of pain as he'd tweaked it in some way, but hopefully over the next few days it'll feel better.

There's Nowhere Like Jungle Jim's

After leaving the RV Park in Indiana, it didn't take long before we crossed into Ohio: state #28 on this trip! Lisette makes an effort to take a photo of the "Welcome to [insert state]" whenever we enter a new state. Sometimes we can get out and pose next to it, but sometimes we just see it along the highway and have to take a pic from the window as we zoom past.

Ohio's welcome sign, unfortunately, was so small and underwhelming, that we missed it! Every other road sign and billboard was significantly bigger, so at least on this road, Ohio needs to celebrate itself a lot more! Fortunately, we'll be crossing into Ohio again later, which will hopefully have a better sign for us to snap.

Our first stop in Ohio had no qualms about making itself known: it was Jungle Jim's International Market, which can be best described as a "theme park of food", with over 180,000 products from over 70 countries! Jungle Jim's started in 1971 by James O. "Jungle Jim" Bonaminio, and it's expanded dramatically over the years to now taking up over 18,580 square meters (200,000 square feet) of space, and a second store in Ohio.

The parking lot alone is gigantic, and as we approached, we saw a bright yellow monorail high in the sky, with the silhouettes of animals like lions and giraffes hanging about inside. When we walked towards the store entrance, there were more giraffes, gorillas and other statued animals greeting us, idling around a garden, with thick scrub and rocks, while a "Welcome to Jungle Jim's" announcement, complete with jungle-like sounds, played on a loop. It was perfectly kitschy!

As soon as we entered, we passed through a recording studio where Jungle Jim's podcast is recorded live every Wednesday, a section for kitchen appliances, and a grocery store selling typical daily food items (like cereal, milk, etc). It was a huge store, but Lisette was a bit underwhelmed by the "Asian" grocery aisle--until we walked further in and were inundated by the international produce section. As it turns out, the "Asian" section in the proper international area could have been a single grocery store alone! We saw aisles filled with foods from all over the world, including India, China, the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, and so many more countries. Wandering further, we passed aisles stocking English foods like biscuits, teas, chocolates, Marmite, right next to an Aussie section with Vegemite, Tim Tam's (in flavors we didn't know existed), and other items from home. While it was to be expected, the prices were shockingly expensive compared to what we would pay for the same goods at home--for example, a tiny tub of Vegemite was $9.69, whereas at home it would be about $3 in Aussie currency! But these are the prices we'd expect to pay in the US, whether at a store like Jungle Jim's or online.

There was even a huge section for Africa, including foods from Cote D'Ivoire (ok, we've never seen imported goods from here, this is rare). Within certain sections they had animated displays to celebrate the particular culture. For example, there was a giant horn for the Horn of Africa, a huge stuffed kangaroo perched above the top shelf of the Australian section, and even a huge Campbell's soup can on a swing in the grocery section. There was a candy section with a very impressive picture of Jungle Jim made entirely from jellybeans, and other fun displays.

The place was like Disneyland for food--there were cheeses from all over the world, a section with exotic meats like kangaroo, ostrich, and alligator, and fruits & vegetables that are hard to come by in the US, such as sapote fruit from Central/South America, massive jackfruit, and so much more. The alcohol section is huge too, which includes an area where customers can do a sampling of different booze, and even purchase drinks so they can walk around the store while drinking (sounds dangerous, because it would encourage more impulse purchases)! There's even a section up a flight of stairs for cooking classes.

Given the millions of items sold here, we couldn't help wondering how they keep track of all this inventory--surely, there'd be a bit of write off with some of the more obscure items that could expire before people buy them? And with more tariffs, how will this affect their business? Having said that, there were hundreds of people in the store when we went, and it was the most diverse gathering of folks in Cincinnati that we'd seen, with people from West Africa, the subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and all walks of life shopping for goods. We ended up purchasing more than we'd anticipated as well--getting fresh sushi for lunch (there were people making it onsite), as well as a Dubai-style chocolate bar from Jordan (it was really good, much better than the last block we purchased from a different brand!), and other international snacks while on the road.

Quirky Cincinnati Buildings

We tried to visit the Loveland Castle Museum, which was built in the style of a Medieval castle in the 1920s by Harry D. Andrews, a Boy Scout troop leader, World War I veteran, and medievalist. Unfortunately parking was virtually impossible for us, so we had to abort our mission and continued on to see the Cincinnati Mushroom House, an eccentric abode that is somewhat shaped like a mushroom on one side, but is also all sorts of shapes and dimensions throughout. It's a private home so we could only view it from the outside.

Not far from the Mushroom House is the Cincinnati Observatory, the oldest professional observatory in the US. It was closed when we went (there are tours that cost $15), but we could peer inside and see a telescope and the office. The Observatory is a beautiful building in a park, and the surrounding neighborhood seems to be quite expensive, with a lot of historic homes and mansions to gawk at.

Meeting Martynas!

We took it easy in the afternoon given Michael's back pain, resting for a while in the RV and away from the searing sun. In the early evening, we drove into downtown Cincinnati, where we excitedly met our friend Martynas, who was going to be hanging out with us for a week, coming from Lithuania! As sheer luck and coincidence would have it, he was going to Nashville for a conference and also wanted to watch the Cincinnati Open. The dates of the tennis finals and the conference lined up perfectly with when we would be in these cities, so we arranged to meet, and travel together from Cincinnati, through Kentucky, and onwards to Nashville in Tennessee. How awesome to have everything align, and have the opportunity to catch up again in person!

We met Martynas near his hotel in downtown Cincinnati, driving a short distance to Somerset Bar, a funky-looking bar with an indoor area that looks like you're sitting inside a greenhouse amid lush green plans, serving beer, wine, and creative cocktails. Lisette was looking forward to trying the latter, as they had a few globally-inspired cocktails such as a ube margarita (it was delicious). It turns out that the bar was playing a lot of funky Afrobeats that Lisette listens to as well!

The only food option was a Jamaican food truck within the bar but outside the greenhouse, so we ordered some food there. The portions were enormous!! It was like ordering and eating at your grandma's house, if your grandma is the type who says you're wasting away and shows you love by stuffing you with food. Martynas and Michael shared an order of jerk chicken that said it came with "2 sides" but it turned out she gave us ALL the sides--cabbage salad, mac and cheese, rice and beans, and fried plantains. Lisette ordered the vegetarian meal and it was a mountain of food, with all the sides. The dishes were delicious, so we ended up taking home a container that looked like an untouched order, because the portion size was simply gargantuan! (Michael and Lisette ended up finishing it, but it took 3 separate sittings to do so).

Perhaps it was because of the greenhouse-style setting, but there were quite a few mosquitoes outside, so we got attacked by them while eating our food. If you're the type that mosquitoes love, sitting in the greenhouse/bar is a better option. Before we had left our RV to go the bar, we'd noticed water leaking out of our vehicle towards the back, but had brushed it off as it wasn't near our grey/black water tanks. We came back and noticed that there still was water leaking, and after close inspection realized that the fresh water pump under the mattress was a bit loose, which meant some fresh water was seeping out. Oops! Fortunately we had recently filled it from staying in the RV park, so it would be enough to last us for the next few days, until we planned to check into an RV park again.

After dropping Martynas back at his hotel, we realized that there wasn't really many places to stay around downtown Cincinnati overnight, but not far from here we could cross the bridge into Kentucky (hey, state #29!), and stay on a quiet side street. We drove along a beautifully lit up bridge and parked next to a couple of office buildings (including a funky fur and bridal store), dozing here for the night.

Route Map